


Scars

by LizAnn_5869



Series: Prompts and Requests [27]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dimension Hopping Rose, F/M, Love, Romance, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 10:43:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6851494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizAnn_5869/pseuds/LizAnn_5869
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor discovers just how brave Rose has had to be during their time apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> For @timepetalsprompts "scars".

It was a week after one Doctor promised his forever while the other faded away forever. 

They had kissed desperately on the beach. Then they came home to Rose's two bedroom flat. Both bedrooms were currently in use, mainly because Rose had no idea what to do and the Doctor was too busy walking on eggshells. He had this perpetually shocked look on his face, as if he feared being chucked out at her first opportunity. They'd barely touched, let alone kissed. 

He had told her that he was ready to share his life with her, if she wanted. Her hand was aching for his. While she changed into her jimjams she had made the decisions. No more treating him as if he was a lodger. He was much more than that. He was her Doctor still, she knew it. 

She was getting ready to tell him this, when he burst into the room with familiar enthusiasm. He was talking animatedly and gesticulating wildly about the baby TARDIS in the tank in his room. It took him a full minute to realize that Rose was in a state of undress. When the Doctor really saw her, he back pedaled.

"Ohhh, blimey, Rose, I'm sorry, so sorry...." In his haste he ran into the door, slamming Rose's bedroom door behind him, effectively shutting him in the room with her. His eyes were as big as saucers.

"Doctor, it's fine, calm down! We live in the same flat, s' bound to happen sooner or later," Rose sighed. She rubbed her eyes, exasperated. This skittish Doctor was beginning to frustrate her. However, she was more frustrated with herself for making it so difficult for him. It was time for that to stop. 

"Doctor, really," she said, turning to face him. She noticed how his eyes tried mightily to stay at her eye level. She was standing there in nothing but an oversized sweatshirt and knickers. "It's okay, I mean it." She sighed and grasped his hand. "Doctor, I really don't want any more distance between us. No more walls, or universes or anything. We've been apart far too long. I was just about to tell you that I don't know why we're holding each other at arm's length now."

The Doctor blinked owlishly at her, trying to process her speech. "I...I was giving you your space, Rose. I don't want space between us at all, erm...literally or figuratively....but you...you seemed to want...."

"I didn't know what I wanted a few days ago. I was in shock. I'm not any more. You're my Doctor. You'll always be." 

The Doctor blinked, taking it all in. It finally seemed to register, and he beamed. He pulled her into an embrace, lifting her up and swinging her back and forth as he had done when they reunited after Krop Tor. He laughed happily, and it was contagious. She couldn't help it, giggling like she hadn't done since she was a teenager. As he set her down the sleeve of her large sweatshirt pulled off of her shoulder.

The Doctor's smile faded as he looked at the exposed skin. "Rose, what happened here?" His fingers skated gently over a two-inch long puckered scar on her shoulder. 

"Oh...that...." She self-consciously pulled the sweatshirt sleeve back over her shoulder, looking away. 

"Rose, how did you hurt yourself?" The Doctor asked. He appeared to be half-afraid she'd tell him. He pressed on anyway. "What happened?"

"What makes you think it wasn't always there?" Rose tried for levity but she could tell by his serious expression she failed.

"I've seen you in a bikini. Believe me, I looked. You might think I wasn't looking.....but I was." He smiled sheepishly.

Rose sank down onto her bed. "I got hurt. Does it matter how?"

The Doctor sat down beside her. "It matters to me, love." He cupped her cheek and pressed his lips to her forehead gently. Tears filled her eyes. 

Why had she been so aloof this week? Why had she held him at arm's length and closed herself off, she wondered. Changing the subject, diverting his attention to other matters...wasn't that what had driven her barmy about the Doctor before Canary Wharf? He'd get close, then dance away, distracted, distracting her? 

Wasn't she doing what he had always done? 

Well, this Doctor didn't appear to do that any more. He was open and present, and she had seen his hopeful expressions so many times over the past week that she was ashamed for holding him at arms' length.

So, Rose found herself telling him. It was a relief to be open. "I was stabbed," she said simply. He grimaced. 

"Oh, Rose. Was it a Torchwood mission?"

"It was a dimension hop. Apparently I forgot to bring a knife to the knife fight." Rose gave him a watery smile.   
He didn't return it. He gazed at her, his own eyes welling up. He nodded, prompting her to go on. "I never knew where I'd land, and most of the time I was alone when I arrived, but this time I wasn't....I guess you'd describe the world as apocalyptic. Something horrible had happened. Buildings were burning, panicked people everywhere.... I appeared out of nowhere and surprised a teenaged boy in an alley. He attacked me and I fought him off but he....got the upper hand. He stabbed me. The dimension cannon had an emergency return program and I was able to get back to Torchwood. That's all. The worst of it was Mum's reaction. That's when she found out about the cannon. She about killed Dad and Mickey." She tried to smile again. "I think they got the worst end of the whole thing. I have other scars too, just small ones...my leg got caught in some debris when a floor in an abandoned building collapsed...I've been grazed by a bullet...but they're just marks. I got back to you. That's what matters."

The Doctor wouldn't be put off so easily. He gently pulled her sleeve down to examine the wound. He hissed in sympathetic pain for her. "You were looking for me," he stated flatly. "How many more times did you get hurt because you were looking for me? Not to mention that hurling yourself through the dimensions was horribly dangerous to begin with....." He spoke with such self-loathing that it broke Rose's heart all over again. "The scars aren't just visible on your body. They're deep inside. All the horrible things you saw...I know all too well. I'm not worth..."

She placed a finger gently in his lips, shushing him. "Stop. Just stop. If you're going to tell me that you're not worth it, just don't. You are worth every single scar I have. I promised you my forever, Doctor, and I keep my promises." She covered his hand with her own. "I love you."

A small sob escaped the Doctor's throat as he sighed in relief. Rose felt even more ashamed. "I'm sorry about this week. I've been horrible," she whispered.

"No, you were in shock and I under...." His voice was think with emotion. 

She cut him off. "I don't have an excuse. Can we put this past week behind us? Start fresh? Hello, I'm Rose and I love you."

The Doctor did laugh at that. He pulled her into an embrace. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, and I love you," he returned in kind, chuckling as tears trailed down his cheeks. 

Rose gently wiped away the tears, leaning in to kiss him. She slanted her head, trying to get the best angle, then decided to sod it all and just straddle him. He scooted back against the headboard, Rose in his lap. She immediately drew his lower lip in between her own lips, making him moan. He was beginning to strain against his trousers, and her lips curved into a smirk at the feel of him. The kiss became quite voracious, tongues darting and stroking in each other's mouths, until the Doctor gentled the snog, pressing his lips against hers. He trailed soft kisses along the curve of her neck, and desire pooled low in her belly. He pressed his lips against the scar on her shoulder tenderly. 

"Do you want...." he whispered breathlessly. 

"I want," she murmured.

He kissed the scar again, before gliding his hands under her sweatshirt. She reached for the hem and he helped her pull it over her head. 

The Doctor found the other visible scars as he lavished her body with soft kisses. He pressed his lips to each one reverently. "All the things you had to endure alone," he whispered, kissing the small scar on her side. The Doctor rolled her gently into her back and glided his hands down her sides, her hips and finally down her legs. A thin slash mark of shiny white marred her calf, marking the injury from the building collapse. "All the things you had to witness," he murmured as he kissed it. 

Rose reached for him, pulling him up to face her. "It was worth it. I will try to convince you of that for every day of our forever, Doctor. It got me back to you." Brown eyes, dark with want, locked on hers, closing only as he leaned in. He answered her with a slow, deep kiss and gentle caresses. They became lost in one another. 

They held each other close afterwards, her head resting on his chest, feeling his one heartbeat slowing as they recovered in the dark quiet of what was now their bedroom. 

The Doctor traced the scar on her shoulder. "I'm so glad you're so stubborn and impossible and willing to prove me wrong." 

Her tongue poked out as she smirked. "That's what you love about me."

"Quite right, Rose Tyler." He turned serious. He cupped her cheek as he vowed, "You amaze me. You are so strong, so brave and beautiful. I swear you'll never have to be alone and brave ever again." 

"Better with two, right?" Rose said. The smile he gave her reminded him of that first Christmas together when he walked into her mum's flat. He had been bright and happy and full of promise then. He was so pleased that she wanted to stay with him. This moment was no different, she realized. 

"Absolutely better with two, love," he sighed. "It has always been better with you." He kissed the crown of her head. 

As she felt slumber begin to tug her under, Rose really relaxed, probably for the first time since before Canary Wharf. Their forever could finally begin.


End file.
